Comments for Great Southern Steve

Comment on Big Kids: Kangaroo by sjmckenzie

sjmckenzie — Sat, 26 May 2012 08:29:48 +0000

Thanks.

I tell my kids that you like their stuff and they are happy about that.

Steve

Comment on Big Kids: Kangaroo by janet5

janet5 — Sat, 26 May 2012 06:10:42 +0000

This is super, super sharp. I hope your kids don’t let success go to their heads, or anything.
And does anyone else remember when people wrote political songs by just saying what they thought was right, instead of cloaking everything in twenty-seven layers of metaphor?
Highly cool.

Comment on The Time Machines by Zoe Oldman Molasurto

Zoe Oldman Molasurto — Tue, 15 May 2012 02:42:55 +0000

The film contains footage of Banksy,� � Shephard Fairey, Invader and many of the world� s most infamous graffiti artists at work.

Comment on The BellRays probably like themselves more than I do by sjmckenzie

sjmckenzie — Fri, 11 May 2012 07:08:06 +0000

Hey, you’re right, I did say ‘big black lady’ twice and it reads really badly…but, bear in mind this is an occasional blog where I rave about whatever I feel like, post, and then don’t come back for weeks, so I am not beating myself up about my expression too much. (On the same kind of point – it’s “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, dude. ‘Proof of the putting’ is pretty mangled.)

As for the rest of your post – I get that you love the BellRays – I like them too but I won’t defend the pretentiousness. I have only played music semi-professionally for about three years when I was a kid, so I cannot speak with your experience, but I’m pretty sure this band should be in a position to represent themselves how they want on their own website, and if they can’t, that’s pretty sad. And if that IS them writing that stuff on their site and on other places I have seen…well, I already said what I thought about that.

I think you can be too serious about ‘rocking out’, off-stage and out of the studio. Maybe bands do it just as a response to a culture of music journalism which craves novelty and wants to invent new ‘cult’ things to talk about all the time, when at the end of the day it’s rock and roll same as it ever was. But, bands don’t need to buy into that, and it seems to me this band has bought into it.

I still like them, though.

Comment on The BellRays probably like themselves more than I do by Sean Smithson

Sean Smithson — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:35:54 +0000

Have you ever actually TALKED to them to gauge their attitude? Also, usually those press releases/manifestos are written by someone OTHER than the band. As a professional musician of over 25 years (I helped create thrash as a kid in the bay area, and have explored many other genres at a professional playing level) I see nothing wrong with taking rocking way seriously either. The proof is in the putting…this crew smokes most comers. The songs are a cut above and carry a weight not seen in the slew of MC5 soul-infused wannabes dropping from the ceiling these days (Thee Emergency anyone? UGH!) and the band themselves have a much wider breadth of styles they can actually TRULY pull off.

I am a professional music and film journalist now. I also found your write up and repetitive mentioning of “a big black woman” lazy and halfway racist. Doesn’t mean it is.

My point? press and what people write, unless THOROUGHLY thought out, can be very deceiving. I know a couple very well known musicians with a rep for being difficult and they are anythign ut. I also know a couple actors who are supposed to be “way cool” and have nothing but bad things to say about people, and are rude as fuck (Bruce Campbell I am looking at you).

Just saying man…

Comment on Big Kids feat Erin G: Little bit o’ Something by jem

jem — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 22:58:55 +0000

love it! that erin she a little bit o somethin’

Comment on Big Kids feat Erin G: Little bit o’ Something by janet5

janet5 — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:36:06 +0000

I thought it might be a granulated sax or clarinet (“granulated” is my word of the day – I have no idea whether that’s what you did or not. This is the trouble I get into when I start googling at work). I like reading about synthesizers, but I can’t seem to work up the energy to synthesize anything.

Comment on Big Kids feat Erin G: Little bit o’ Something by sjmckenzie

sjmckenzie — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 01:34:54 +0000

It is all MIDI, which is a sort of computer synthesizer thing (except the vocals obviously). The sound you are talking about is supposed to be a muted trumpet but it doesn’t really sound like one does it?

More Big Kids coming…

Comment on Big Kids feat Erin G: Little bit o’ Something by janet5

janet5 — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 19:37:02 +0000

Hey! That is awesome – I’m telling you, Steve – the Big Kids can *throw down*

What is the sound I hear sampled over the main theme (which is mixed up more, near the end)? Is that a reed instrument of some kind?

DOO doo doo d’doo doo doo, DOO doo doo d’doo doo doo. . .

Comment on Big Kids: Advertising by Great Southern Steveeeee

Great Southern Steveeeee — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 08:04:28 +0000

That is seriously high praise in my world. Thank you.